Tag Archives: Galapagos Islands

Thank You, Little Library!

Posted on by under Ecuador, Galapagos Islands

Thank you for giving me a volunteer project to occupy my 2 years on the Galapagos Islands. I needed it. We went from this:

Library/Music Room
Dumping Ground
Disaster

to this:

Open Air Library
Room to Grow
The New Stacks

to this:

Full Spanish Section
Out of Room!
Packed for the End of the Year
Last Minute Work
Locking Up for the Last Time

In less than 2 years, we built an open air library at the Tomas de Berlanga school and increased the collection from 400 semi-acceptable books to over 3,600 books specific to the needs of the school. The books all came via donations.We created a Bring a Book program with the Lindblad National Geographic ships. This program provided over 1,300 books to the school! We raised almost $2,000 in donations, which allowed the library to be self sustaining. We purchased a dedicated library computer and supplies and mailed books collected in the US. We held a book sale, a Dr. Seuss contest and instilled a love of reading in at least some of the students. We began an expansion, financed in part from the library fund, but unfortunately only the the concrete got poured before I left.

Thank you for facilitating my interaction with great, fun kids. I’ll miss these readers!

Enjoying a Book
Captivated Listeners
New Books!
Quiet Reading
Katie Giving Bookmarks to Students
Excited for the New Books
Decisions
Check Out Time
Sweet Goodbye

Thank you for introducing me to some great people who have become fantastic friends.

The Lovely Helena
Helena and Kerry Finishing Up for the Year
Thank You Amy and Harry!
Story Time
Amy Returns with Katie!

Thank you for the reminder that sometimes you just have to do things and not overthink them. Personal reinvention is the norm in a place like the Galapagos so going from retired attorney to “librarian” didn’t seem out of place.

Final Farewell

A final THANK YOU to Matt and my family and friends who supported the project through donations, advice, assistance and enthusiasm! You are too numerous to name (and I would forget someone) but you know who you are.

Know anyone who wants the library director gig? Here is the information; pass it along!

VOLUNTEER SCHOOL LIBRARY DIRECTOR NEEDED FOR THE GALAPAGOS ISLANDS!

Have you ever wanted to live on the famous Galapagos Islands? Here is your chance! Tomás de Berlanga School (TdB), a K-12 bilingual (Spanish/English) school in Puerto Ayora, Santa Cruz Island, Galapagos, Ecuador, is looking for a part-time volunteer to manage its open-air school library. Adult candidates must have a passion for children’s literature, great organizational skills, basic proficiency in MS Office, including Excel, and a desire to live in a unique, yet challenging, island environment. MLIS or teaching degree is not required. English fluency required. Spanish fluency desired; a working knowledge of Spanish is required. The school year begins in May and ends in February. We require a minimum commitment of 4 months. The schedule is 3 days per week, which provides ample opportunity to enjoy your time on the islands. TdB will provide a volunteer visa.

The Library Director is responsible for all aspects of the library. Duties include indexing, leveling, labeling and maintaining the library collection; holding regular library hours for book check out and story times; maintaining the school’s book wish list (all books come via donations); communicating with potential donors; directing the work of teachers assigned to library duty; and light cleaning.

If you are interested in this opportunity, please contact the incoming school director, Justin Scoggin, at justinkscoggin@gmail.com

For more information about the school, you can view our Facebook page or website.
https://www.facebook.com/tdberlanga
http://tomasdeberlanga.edu.ec/

Love Is in the Air

Posted on by under Ecuador, Galapagos Islands, Travel

Size does matter. That’s what our naturalist told us as we watched the blue-footed boobies perform their mating dance. Foot size, that is. Because the male boobies are a progressive bunch who share the egg incubation and child-rearing duties with the larger, female boobies, the females look for big feet, in addition to the perfect blue, when choosing a mate.

Big and Blue
Left Foot
Right Foot
One-legged Sky Pointing
Wait for It…
She Noticed Me!
Walking off into the Sunset?
Just Protecting My Egg
Looks Like His Feet Are Up to the Task
Dad and Egg
Move along, nothing to see here!
Dual Incubation
Taking a Break

When Matt and I returned from our trip to Wisconsin over Christmas, the end was in sight – only 3 more months on the Galapagos. We were eagerly counting down and one of the highlights along the way was our second Lindblad National Geographic expedition, this time on the newly launched Endeavor II. (Here are posts on our first National Geographic cruise and my cruise on the smaller Samba: Cruising the Galapagos and Sailing on the Samba.) Admittedly, Matt and I approached the cruise with a bit of a “been there, done that” attitude: after almost 2 years we have seen most that the islands have to offer. Instead, the islands wowed us again and we were as enthusiastic as first-time visitors when we saw new-to-us animals and voyeuristically observed mating behaviors.

Endeavor II
Home Away From Home
Greeted by Circling Sharks
Relaxed and Having Fun!
Sunset as we Passed the Ecuador

Back to the sex. The birds were providing quite the shows. This poor swallow-tail gull couple had their fun interrupted by a frigatebird who just wanted to cause trouble!

Swallow-tailed Gull
Afternoon delight
What the…
Coitus interruptus

Wah!!!

Matt and I were thrilled to see flightless cormorants for the first time. This pair did not disappoint: we watched their courtship dance that began in the water and then continued on shore only a few feet in front of us. Their turquoise eyes were stunning.

Water ballet
Synchronized Wing Drying
Choreography
Yep, Flightless
Check Me Out!
Working It
All This for You, Baby!

While the blue-footed boobies get most of the attention, the red-footed boobies’ colors are even more spectacular with their blue and red beaks in addition to their red feet. These pairs had already committed and were in the real estate phase of their relationships. The males would fly off in search of just the right twig, which they would return to give to the female. Then the two would fight over exactly where to place the twig in the nest. Who said decorating is easy in the wild?!

Incoming!

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Bringing a Gift to My Sweetie!
Almost There!
I’m Home!
The Tussle Begins

The frigatebird bachelors were doing their best to attract some females. They have a teenage boy mentality: the males all hang out together, puff out their pouches and whistle to the females in an attempt to get their attention. No one got lucky while we were there.

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It was not all about the birds. My beloved marine iguanas were building their nests. It was a spectacular sight to see their compact bodies kicking up sand everywhere we looked. Even more fun were the turf wars.

Digging a Hole
Who Will Win the Nest?
Fight!
Biding My Time
Heh, heh, I’ll Get Her When She’s Tired
Attack!
Beach Break
Resting
Don’t Mess with Me
Snaky neighbor

We didn’t just see great land animals. On our way back from a hike, we spotted a whale from our zodiac. The rest of the passengers were back on board, but we were off on a wild whale chase!

Thar She Blows!
Is a Zodiac a Good Match for a Whale?
Whale Stalking
Getting Closer!
Surfacing

It was both exhilarating and slightly terrifying – zodiacs are just little rubber dinghies! Matt and I were lucky to spot this orca from the ship on another day.

Orca

One of my favorite creatures to spot while snorkeling is the elusive octopus. This one was pretty easy to see for a change.

And, of course, my favorite:

Which leads us to the land iguanas.

Feeling the Breeze
Red Eye
Chomp!
Having a Snack
Coming Through
I Ate Too Much
Climbing for a Morsel
Spiked Beauty
Top-o-the-World

Tres Amigos

In addition to the great animals and views, we also met fantastic people and had good conversations, games and laughs. An unforgettable last trip around the islands!

Sally Lightfoot Crab
Shore Bird
Sizing Me Up
Sea Lion and Lava Gull
Kicker Rock
View from the Top
Crater
Tortoise

Iguana Obsessed!

Posted on by under Ecuador, Galapagos Islands

There are many magical aspects of the Galapagos Islands, but for me, the iguanas are supreme. There are endemic (native only to a particular place) marine and land iguanas on the islands. The marine iguanas are the only reptiles that drink salt water. Eventually, they blow out the salt through their nostrils. How cool is that? They are herbivores and feed on the ocean algae.  They fascinate me – how they move both on land and in the water and their chameleon-like color changes to match the seasons. The land iguanas are equally interesting. They eat cacti and other plants and come in various colors according to island location as well. While I am looking forward to leaving the islands at the end of March, I am going to miss these characters.

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Hanging Out in the Highlands

Posted on by under Ecuador, Galapagos Islands

Santa Cruz Island is not all beaches and marine life. There is also the middle of the island, the “Parte Alta” or Highlands, that is lush and green. Here you find the giant tortoises*.

Enjoying Some Grass
Tortoise Right of Way
Blocking the Path
Big Daddy
Stretching for that Morsel
Strike a Pose

The Galapagos giant tortoises have had a rough history. After enjoying island life for many years, they were rendered close to extinction (and some species are believed to be extinct) due to their use as a food source by pirates, whalers and sailors and the introduction of animal species that feast on the eggs, compete for food or damage the tortoises’ natural habitat. Human habitation on the islands also contributed to the tortoises’ demise. The tortoises are now legally protected and thanks to conservation efforts, including eradicating some introduced animal species and captive breeding and raising, their numbers have increased. It is not unusual to see them on the side of the road in the Highlands. Shortly after we arrived, a school parent was driving us in the Highlands when I mentioned that I wanted to see a tortoise in the wild. He obliged me by spotting this one.

Wallowing in the Mud

Wallowing in the Mud

Of course, then we had to oblige by trekking through the mud to see it up close!

Submerged
Side of the Road Tortoise

To increase your chance to see more of them and to get a little closer (but not closer than 6 feet – the law in Galapagos for any animal) it is better to visit a tortoise reserve. The reserves are nothing more than private land on which the tortoises like to hang out. They cannot be held captive and come and go as they please. For females, this includes making an annual trek to the beach to lay their eggs.

In the past year I have gone to three tortoise reserves: Rancho El Manzanillo, El Chato and Rancho Primicias. All are essentially the same. You take a cab from town and then pay $3 to wander around and look at whatever tortoises are hanging about. El Chato and Primicias have the added bonus of lava tunnels on the property that you can walk through. I first went to El Manzanillo with a visiting tourist, Diana, whom I met on a snorkeling tour. Diana was traveling alone so we palled around for a few days. The day we went to the Highlands was rainy and by the end we were soaked and muddy.

Not too Close!
Rainy Day Friends
Rocking the Wellies
Squelch!

In addition to El Manzanillo, we also stopped at the Los Tuneles de Amor for a walk through an 800 meter/875 yard lava tunnel (also muddy but too dark for good photos) and hiked into a crater at Cerro Mesa. I set us on such a brisk hiking pace that the owners didn’t believe we went all the way to the crater’s bottom!

Tunnel of Love with Diana
Crater
Crater 2
Lava Tunnel
Hiking in the Crater

My next tortoise reserve visit was with Carl and Sheri to El Chato. This property has a number of short lava tunnels. Sheri and I walked through one of them and then left Carl to do the rest on his own. Above ground, we saw several tortoises.

Bucky Visits the Tortoises
Carl Emerging
Carl, Sheri and Friend

Last week Matt made his first visit to a tortoise reserve with our friends Jill, Claude, Jamie, Sonia and Kathy. We started our Rancho Primicias adventure at the challenging lava tunnel and were rewarded by this guy at the entrance.

Tunnel Greeter

Tunnel Greeter

After shimmying our way though a tight squeeze, it got even tougher when we had to crawl!

Going Through the First Narrow Pass
Trying to Stay Clean Is Futile
How Low Can You Go?
Coming Through!

We remarked as we made our way through the tunnel that it would never fly in the US due to liability concerns. The way was dark, slippery, rocky and treacherous at times, but we had a ball and were happy to be out of the scorching sun.

Going Into the Tunnel
Fearless Leader
Lending a Helping Hand
Treading Carefully
Hoping We Get Out
It’s Cool Down Here!
Kathy and Jamie
Kerry Giving the Assist
Going Toward the Light
Kathy Ascending
Success!
Claude Made It!

After the tunnel, we went in search of giant tortoises and were not disappointed.

New Pal
Sonia Finds the Big Guy!
Kathy with a Baby
Sign
Chilling

General silliness ensued after the hike.

Cabbie Angel Showing Us How It’s Done
Kathy Too Petite to Do a Tortoise Push Up!
Carapaces
Claude’s the Man!

A visit to the Highlands is worth it when you are on the island. It is nice to get away from the beach and see a different environment and the tortoises are amazing. Some we saw were around 170 years old and one weighed about 500 pounds. Even Matt, who was a reluctant visitor to the reserve, thought it was a good time.

Thanks to Diana, Jill, Jamie and Sheri for their photos. Matt too, of course, but I always am using his photos!

*Thanks to Jill, I finally learned that a turtle swims and lives in water at least part of the time and a tortoise lives on land.

 

2,000 Books and Growing – Library Project Update

Posted on by under Ecuador, Galapagos Islands

As I previously blogged about (here https://kerryedwyer.com/2015/07/10/one-book-at-a-time/, here https://kerryedwyer.com/2015/08/20/power-of-social-media-kindness-of-strangers-500-books/, here https://kerryedwyer.com/2015/09/25/open-for-business/ and here https://kerryedwyer.com/2015/11/01/the-kindness-of-strangers-part-ii/), my volunteer project in the Galapagos is to create and maintain a bilingual library for the Tomas de Berlanga school. In 8 months, we have made a lot of progress.

This is what the library looked like when I started the project in June:

Dumping Ground

Dumping Ground

We built and unveiled a new library with 900 books on September 24, 2015:

The New Stacks

The New Stacks – Room to Grow!

And closed the library for the school year last Friday:

Helena and Kerry Finishing Up for the Year
Spanish, English Nonfiction and English Advanced Level
Beautiful, Organized Library!
Checking Whose Books Weren’t Returned!
English Books

Fabulous Volunteer About two weeks after the library opened, the school welcomed a volunteer from Germany, the amazing Helena. In addition to being hard working, fluent in English, friendly and kind, Helena is mature beyond her years. Helena’s help was crucial as we embarked on changing the school culture from one with limited reading and no accountability for the books to one with a fully functional library. Between the two of us, we were able to keep up with the indexing and labeling of donated books, have the library open 3 days a week and provide set library times for all of the classes.

Engrossed (Most of Them)
The Lovely Helena
What Happens Next?
Last Story Hour

Library Accomplishments In the 4 months the library has been open, we:

  1. More than doubled the number of books in the library to 2,075 books.  1,790 books are in English, 267 books are in Spanish and 18 books are bilingual.
  2. Manually checked out 972 books to students and 115 books to teachers.
  3. Held story hours with pre-school, 1st, 2nd and 3rd grade classes.
  4. Increased the number of teachers using the library from 2 to 12, including all of the English teachers.
  5. Trained the students on proper library conduct: checking out and returning books, shelving books, appropriate book handling.

Fundraising In addition to the on-site work, we continued working to obtain books and other resources for the library. In November, through the efforts of Hector Viela and Amy Torres, we started a GoFundMe campaign that raised $725. https://www.gofundme.com/wa6skk5z. We have spent about 1/2 of the funds to buy library materials and to mail books that Amy continues to collect for us in the US. The remaining funds will be used to build seating for the library once we have enough raised to commission some tables and benches.

Book Donations We continue to receive book donations from friends in the US. Thank you Tanya Oemig and Candy Underwood for mailing books to the Galapagos! Matt and I also brought back 100 pounds of books from a weekend trip to visit our family in NYC. Thanks to Mick, Andy, Tom and Sue for collecting these books (and Mary Ziino and Bridget Paul for their donations) and bringing them to us in NYC. Galapagos visitor Alex Doubek kindly brought some books from his collection when Mick put us in touch before his trip. Amy Torres also was able to deliver another 84 books to us via Pablo Weaver and his students from the University of La Verne who came on a study trip to the Galapagos. Amy is visiting us again this summer, this time bringing her daughter, more books and her never-ending support!

University of La Verne Book Mules!
Books!
Does Kieran Weigh More than the Books?
Welcome and Thank You!
Gorgeous, New, Donated Books!

We also received donations from the school community. A school parent and labeling volunteer, Jessi Pfeltz Mahauad, donated 50 books when her family returned to the US. A 6th grade student, Lymin, took it upon herself to donate books she had read or outgrown, and additional parents have donated some books from their collections as well.

Lindblad Expeditions-National Geographic Bring a Book Program Visitors from the Lindblad Expeditions-National Geographic ships are invited to visit the school as one of their on-shore expeditions. Every time Matt led a tour, the tourists bemoaned the fact that they hadn’t brought books to donate to the school. Some were kind enough to mail books after their trip. The Lindblad Expeditions-National Geographic fund is also a generous donor to the school via student scholarships and an invaluable school supporter. Through conversations spearheaded by school parent and Lindblad employee Emma Ridley, we launched a “Bring a Book” program for Lindblad Expeditions-National Geographic travelers. Those who wish to support our library can bring a book or two of their choice or select books from an Amazon wish list (https://www.amazon.com/gp/registry/wishlist/2OPJUUA6G2N4D). I constantly update the list to reflect the gaps in our collection as well as specific requests by students and teachers (although I nixed one student’s request for a World of Minecraft manual).

While our other book collection efforts have yielded great books, mailing books is cost prohibitive and takes several months, while transporting large quantities of books from the US is inconvenient and burdensome for the traveler. Through the Bring a Book program, folks can bring one or two books, nothing onerous, and we get a steady stream of needed resources. In the first 2 months of the program we received 370 books! When the library opened, our limited book supply meant that students could only take out one book at a time per language and teachers were limited in the books they could check out for classroom use. Due to the new books, we will be able to increase the checkout limit and provide more books to the teachers.

Community Value While the library patrons are limited to the school community, the impact goes beyond our students. One 6th grade student consistently took out a picture book in Spanish to take home to read to his younger sister. A teacher also checked out books to read to her young child. It is exciting that the resources are being used to instill a love of reading in children who are too young to attend school.

Thank you to everyone who has supported the library project. It has been exactly what I need. I find island living extremely challenging: isolating, limited and lonely at times. Reading is my passion and to turn that into an on-going volunteer project that engages me is a win-win for me and the school.

Ringing in the New Year

Posted on by under Celebrations, Ecuador, Galapagos Islands

Happy 2016 to All! I am all set for it to be a fantastic year because I participated in all of the Ecuadorian superstitions/traditions in order to ensure luck, prosperity and love (hot sex too, according to some). I collected everyone’s advice and on December 31, I was ready. My lovely German volunteer, Helena, was on board with me to make 2016 a year to remember.

First up, yellow underwear.

Yellow Underwear

Shopping for Luck. Or Hot Sex.

I first heard that one wears yellow underwear for luck. I don’t own yellow underwear (TMI?) but while out shopping on New Year’s Eve came across this display and thought, “why not?” I was all set when we headed out for dinner with some friends on December 31 until one friend told me that you couldn’t wear the underwear early but had to change into it at midnight. Umm, we planned to be in the main square watching fireworks (and eating grapes, but that comes later) at midnight, so I opted to ignore this additional caveat. Another friend who heard of our tradition quest asked about the yellow underwear, but she told me it was to ensure a year of hot sex and that the underwear had to be new and a gift. However, she said wearing it all night was just fine. As my underwear was new and Matt had pulled the money out of his wallet to pay for it and our other purchases, I am all set for a year of luck and/or hot sex.

Wearing red and green. Red is for love and green is for health. Which one to pick? If I don’t wear red, will Matt run off with an 18 year old Galapagueña? But health is top of my list as I get older. I opted for a shirt with red in it and green earrings, thus covering both bases. Matt stuck with plaid shorts that had a thin line of green, so apparently he is not concerned about me running off with a hottie surfer. Helena covered all of the bases with patterned underwear with red, yellow and green.

Money in one’s shoe to bring a year of prosperity. This was a problem as I wear sandals here. A little tape and I was set. A cabbie had told me $10, so I went with that figuring I didn’t mind losing $10 if the tape loosened.

Money in Shoe

Ready for Prosperity

Once again, caveats were added by a friend – LEFT shoe and it was better on the sole. Also, the bigger the bill the more prosperous, according to some. We were already out so I did a quick adjustment with my 10 spot.

LEFT shoe!

LEFT sole!

Change jingling in one’s pocket is also said to bring prosperity. I put change in BOTH pockets and fully expect to win a big lottery jackpot this year. (Note I did not say “win the lottery” as I do not intend all this effort to result in me winning a measly $2 in the Powerball!). Helena was equally committed and changed out of her cute, pocketless skirt into shorts with pockets.

Jingle Jangle

Jingle Jangle

My final tradition was to eat 12 grapes at the stroke of midnight, while making a wish for each month. I gave it a shot but could only find large, seeded grapes on the island and it took me about 3 minutes to eat 12 of them. Maybe my January wish will come true? Matt and Helena did a much better job.

12 Grapes at Midnight

12 Grapes at Midnight

I contemplated another tradition to ensure a year of travel: pack a suitcase, carry your passport and run around your block or neighborhood at midnight. The farther you run; the farther you will travel. I decided to skip this one because my passport is with our attorney in Quito for visa paperwork, we live on an island and won’t have much opportunity to travel this year, and we planned to be in the square at midnight. Helena really wants to travel this year and was stuck with a dilemma until another friend said it was adequate to pack your suitcase and leave it by the door of your house and that your passport was not needed. Others questioned this modification, but he said that he did it twice and one year spent considerable time in Colombia and the other year spent 3 months in the US. We stopped at Helena’s house so she could pack her suitcase, and I hope she has a fantastic year of travel.

Another tradition is for men to dress up as the widow of the old year and beg for alms. During the day, Matt and I saw about a dozen such widows. He and our friends decided that they will participate in this tradition next year, so size 13 heels and a wig are now on our to-buy list for the US!

The night was a lot of fun with people out and about, effigies (Año Viejo or Old Year) that were burned at midnight, music and fireworks.

DJ Jorge Mixing the Tunes
Beer Tents Stocking Up
Crowds for the Fireworks
Paper Lanterns
Checking out the Festivities

The effigies were a bit confusing. Why were people burning cartoon characters or the Pope? Especially the Pope tableau with the army figures where the Pope was labeled the “Pope of Peace” in obvious contract to the tank and soldiers.

Pope and Army Guys
Ready for Torching
Popemobile
Pope for Peace
Early Arsonists

Others were easier to understand although we needed the political one explained to us. We got the significance of the President (fair game on New Year’s Eve to poke fun at him), but the animal was a sheep representing his unquestioning followers and the sandwiches because he apparently gets supporters to events by giving out food.

Chucky
Political Effigies
President, Sheep and Sandwich

All in all, a fun celebration and a good start to 2016. I can look forward to luck, love, health, prosperity, a wish or two and hot sex!

The Kindness of Strangers Part II

Posted on by under Ecuador, Galapagos Islands
The New Stacks

The New Stacks

Amy Torres learned about my library project for the Tomás de Berlanga school on the Galapagos Islands when I placed my blog post on the ALA Think Tank Facebook page. Amy and her husband were spurred into collecting and delivering 500 books to us in the Galapagos, something I wrote about here.

https://kerryedwyer.com/2015/08/20/power-of-social-media-kindness-of-strangers-500-books/

Welcome and Thank You!

Welcome and Thank You!

During their stay in Quito, Amy and Harry met Hector Viela. Although Hector has never visited the Galapagos and has no connection to the school, he was inspired by Amy and Harry’s mission and offered to help us by setting up a GoFundMe page to obtain donations. True to his word, our GoFundMe campaign went live today. If you have read about the library project and want to donate funds to help us, now you can! Any amount – $5, $10, $25 – will help greatly. My previous requests for assistance have resulted in many books being collected for us. Now we need to get the funds to ship them here.

https://www.gofundme.com/wa6skk5z

Thanks for any support you can provide. The students love the new books and will greatly appreciate any additional books we can get for them.

Cruising the Galapagos

Posted on by under Ecuador, Galapagos Islands, Scenery, Travel
Kicker Rock

Kicker Rock

Last week Matt and I were lucky to be on board the Lindblad Expeditions/National Geographic Endeavour for a week-long cruise around the eastern Galapagos Islands. We found out late Thursday that we were approved for the trip and set off early Saturday morning to San Cristobal to meet up with the ship. The 2 1/2 boat ride was rough and despite dramamine and my handy pressure point wristbands,  I learned a new meaning for walk of shame – walking off the boat with a puke bag in hand. Thankfully, I had prescription scopolamine patches left behind by some friends and slapped one on as soon as we got on board. We were ready to cruise!

Endeavour
Comfy Cabin
Lounge
A Good Way to Enjoy the Library

We had only been on one cruise before – Alaska’s inside passage on a ginormous ship – and to say it was not my favorite vacation is an understatement. In addition to getting seasick, I did not enjoy the canned feeling of a sedentary voyage that catered to middle America tastes. What a difference this experience was! The fact that it was not a cruise but an “expedition” set the tone. Our schedule was packed with hikes, snorkeling trips, kayak outings and the like and led by naturalists who had a passion for the wildlife and setting. The passengers were primarily adventurous, active folks who were eager to learn about the Galapagos and see as much as possible. That said, we still had ample meals and time to relax. Sunset at the equator is 6 pm, so we were always back on board relatively early, particularly given that the ship doesn’t dock anywhere but instead uses zodiacs (hard bottomed rubber boats) to transport us between the ship and shore (or kayak or snorkeling spot). Getting between the ship and the zodiac is not always an easy feat in choppy waters. On the pier in San Cristobal some of our fellow passengers quickly set up a pool – $20 per person with the pot going to the first person unintentionally to go overboard during the transfer. Never one to pass up a gambling opportunity, we were in. Surprisingly, while there were some close calls, no one went overboard.

Cross-Species Contemplation
Kayak Cleanup
Zodiac Ride
Galapagos Loves the Packers
Under the Sea
First Beach Walk
Alien Landscape
Disembarking
Juan Carlos, Guide Extraordinaire

The magic of the Galapagos is its wildlife. While neither Matt nor I are birders, the birds proved to be fascinating on this trip. The first treat was seeing the waved albatross engaged in their mating dance on Española Island. This is not the normal mating season, and we saw some unusual animal activity on the trip, which our guides attributed to El Niño.

Honk!
Beak Fight!
My Turn!
Pooped from the Mating Dance
Mating Ritual
Waved Albatross

Albatross mate for life and each season lay one egg on open ground. Both partners incubate the egg and caring for it includes rolling it around. We didn’t see that spectacle, though I was hoping.

Hmmm

Hmmm

Flying High
Soaring Albatross

Next up were the Nazca Boobies. These are the largest of the 3 booby species found on the islands. The juveniles spend considerable time practicing to fly before they learn. They also are heavier than the adults (typical teens) and have to slim down before they can get airborn.

Awkward Phase
Who You Looking At?
Beak Aggression
Are you My Mother?
Practice
Take Off
Landing
Taking Flight
Coexistence
No Fear
Nazca Booby

It is a bit hard to tell mating behavior versus fighting, but these two were having a turf war, much to the interest of their neighbors.

Booby Battle
Spectator Sport
Giving Up

Not to be outdone, the Red Footed Boobies are pretty spectacular and should be called the Multicolored Beak – Red Footed Boobies.

Hello, Sunshine!
Red Footed Booby Baby
Boobies at Rest
Beautiful Booby
Glorious Colors
Juvenile Red Footed Booby
Blue Beaked, Red Footed Booby
Red Footed Booby
Juvenile Red Footed Booby
Soaring Booby
Booby and Frigatebird
Soaring Away
Red Feet Tucked in for Flying
Up and Away

Of course, the ubiquitous Blue Footed Boobies were also spotted.

Squawk!
Learning to Fly
Blue Footed Boobies Flanking the Penguins
Booby and Fluff Baby
Blue Footed Boobies
Trifecta – Boobies, Penguins and Sea Lion

We didn’t just bird watch. Matt’s favorite part of any trip is the snorkeling and we went on all 6 of the snorkeling excursions offered.

Sealion
Green & Gold
Starfish aka Sea Stars
Seascape

Unfortunately, on our second outing we got water in the camera. After trying to dry it out for a day we plugged it in to charge the battery and returned to our cabin a couple of hours later to find the cord melted into the camera. We were relieved we didn’t burn down the ship. We especially wished we had the camera for our snorkeling outing to Bartolomé. Often cited as the best of the islands, it did not disappoint. We saw just about every type of fish, coral, and sea creature (with the exception of sea turtles, penguins or sharks) that we have ever seen in the Galapagos and the structure around which we swam was fantastic. In the picture below, we snorkeled from the beach on the right to the end of the point with the peak.

Bartolomé Vista

Bartolomé Vista

We had a human-focused excursion to Post Office Bay on the island of Floreana where we continued a mail swapping tradition that dates back at least to 1793. The guides open the mail barrel and read out the addresses on the postcards inside. If one is close to your home, you take the postcard and deliver it in person. We took a few from the Milwaukee area although the recipients will have to wait until next year for their special delivery.

Post Office Bay, Floreana
Mail Drop
Post Office Box
Artifacts
Ximena Collecting the Mail
Mail Call
Special Delivery

Back on the zodiac, a naturalist spotted some penguins so we zipped over to take a closer look.

Hanging as the Sun Sets
Sun Worshippers
Blue Footed Boobies Flanking the Penguins

Other adventures included searching for elusive land iguanas on Cerro Dragon on Santa Cruz (our home island – Matt actually went to school to give the tour for the passengers and I went home and did a load of laundry the first day we were there).

Emerging
Bleh
Godzilla
Ta-da!
Hangin’
Parting the Crowd

We saw the cruel side of nature: the kleptoparasitic frigatebirds that steal food from other birds by attacking them and shaking them by the tail and starving sea lion babies whose mothers likely were eaten by sharks.

Bird Attack!
Kleptoparasites
Gimme that Fish!
Magnificent Frigatebird
Sneaky Frigatebird

 

 

Cruel Side of Nature

Heartbreak

We learned to look past natural camouflage.

Camo Trio – Mockingbird, Iguanas and Sally Lightfoot Crabs
Camo Iguana
Camo Mockingbird
Camo Hieroglyphic Hawkfish

And to enjoy the flamboyant.

Flamingo Bay

Flamingo Bay

Sally Lightfoot Crab
Pink Flamingos

There was something great to see every time we looked.

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A trip to remember and a new appreciation for cruises!

Open For Business!

Posted on by under Ecuador, Galapagos Islands

Yesterday was the grand opening of the Tomás de Berlanga Open Air Library! In a few short months, we managed to build a new dedicated space for the student library, secure amazing donations of new and gently used books, cull hundreds of unsuitable books and label and index the remaining 900 books for the student library.

We went from this:

Library/Music Room
Disorganized
Disaster

Conceptualized this:

My Bad Drawing of the Library Box
Real Library Plans – thank you Corina Gallardo Nelson!

To this:

Open Air Library
Library among the Trees
English Non-Fiction
The New Stacks
Fully Stocked but Ready for More!
Sad Spanish Section

The students were patiently awaiting the new library and getting their hands on the newly donated books. Finally, we were ready to open the English section of the library. (I need to finish sorting and labeling the Spanish books, but they are few in number and in even worse shape than the English ones were.)

Grand Opening
Library Lady
Volunteers
The Big Reveal
Ribbon Cutting Ceremony

I started checking out books right after we opened and had a steady stream of patrons the rest of the day. It was amazing! Students were coming during their recess and, I later realized, slipping out of class to come for a book. There was a lot of borrower’s remorse and requests to change books – I think the kids were so overwhelmed with the great new options that they didn’t know where to start. The cool, donated book marks were a big hit and the kids were amazed to find out they could keep them. We also have a lot of education to do about library procedures: starting with checking out books and not just taking them. As we have no computer for the library, the check out system is old school. It took me several nights to fill out a form for each student – they each have 4 names here and it is not always consistent which ones they use.

Checking out the Options
Waiting to Check out the Books
Check Out Time
Waiting for the Opening
Perusing
Enjoying
Excitement
Checkout Sheet
Finding the Perfect Book

The best part of the day was when a few 5th graders came to the library during recess. One boy, Matias, picked The Giving Tree to check out and I told him it was one of my favorite books. Other kids chimed in and Matias started reading it at the checkout table. I asked if he wanted to read it aloud and he happily agreed. The other students gathered around and listened (shushing one boy who started reading his book aloud) and we all enjoyed the first story hour at the open air library.

Impromptu Story Hour

Impromptu Story Hour

A big THANK YOU to everyone who helped on this project, including

  • Matt for securing the funding to build the library
  • Corina Gallardo Nelson for designing the library and securing the contractors
  • Donna Daugherty and John Garate for securing the municipal donation of the lava rocks and machinery and man power to spread them
  • Paola Leguísamo and Martin Hoss for encouragement and assistance in getting the construction completed
  • Jo Browne for help with book labeling
  • Jessi Pfeltz for countless hours spent labeling books, making signs, and weeding books
  • Lisa Dell for giving up her prep time (and spare time) to index, label and weed books
  • Amy and Harry Torres for getting the donation ball rolling with a 500 book donation and Amy’s tireless library advice
  • Patty Wanniger, Sarah Wakefield and Maria Schmidt for wonderful library advice and suggestions

WANT TO HELP? WE NEED BOOKS!

  • Bring a book (or books!) on your trip to the Galapagos or send some books with someone you know who is traveling here. This is the least expensive way to get books here. Book guidelines are listed below.
  • Send books for the school from your home country. For US guests, the United States Postal Service is the most economical way to send books. Contact me for more information and the mailing address. If you are able to collect books for us but do not have the funding to ship them, my brother (in Wisconsin) has generously agreed to accept and coordinate book donations as we seek funding sources for shipping. Please contact me for his information.
  • Donate funds to ship books. US donors have collected books for the school, but the school does not have the funds to pay for shipping costs. For example, previous shipments from the United States were sent via USPS and cost $122 for a box of 40 books that weighed about 27 pounds and $80 for a box of 50 books that weighed about 18 pounds. If you want to donate, contact me and I will connect you with someone who has already collected books for us.

Book Guidelines:

  • Please collect new or gently used books that are interesting to children. Remember that English is a second language for our students. The school has an Amazon wish list with some suggested titles, but donors can ask a child what his or her favorite books are or talk to teachers, librarians or booksellers for ideas. While some books are great classics, many books that libraries are discarding are being discarded for a reason: they are dated and no one wants to read them. Library book sales, your own shelves and second hand stores are great places to look, but not every book needs a home in the Galapagos. The wish list can be found at: https://amzn.com/w/2OPJUUA6G2N4D
  • The school is pre-kindergarten through 12th grade and books at all levels would be appreciated. We currently have a special need for picture books (no board books please as their small size makes them difficult in the library) early readers and books at a 1-5 grade reading level. Multiple copies of books are welcome, as they would allow for a class to use them for a reading circle.
  • Books in Spanish are also appreciated. While we want to improve the students’ English proficiency, we also want to encourage a love of reading the their native language.
  • Gently used, please! Dust covers are not necessary, but scribbled in, ripped or grimy books are best discarded.
  • Coloring books, workbooks and sticker books are best for your local charity for a single recipient to enjoy, not for a school library.

For more information about the school, visit its Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/tdberlanga or its website at http://www.scalesia.org/tomas-de-berlanga-school